Mercury @ Sparks - 8/05/18 | The Boneyard

Mercury @ Sparks - 8/05/18

Beard intentional trip of Taurasi only got called as a common foul. Diana already got her back with a DT-induced open-court foul on Beard, but I suspect the payback isn’t complete. Diana was in some pain, and VERY annoyed.
 
DT got away with a flagrant - elbow to Nneka’s head/neck away from the ball just called a common foul. Then she picked up her 4th on a lower-your-shoulder drive on Beard. With DT out the Sparks are aggressively double-teaming Griner. Midway thru Q2 - Mercury are going to have a tough time in this game.
 
DT got away with a flagrant - elbow to Nneka’s head/neck away from the ball just called a common foul. Then she picked up her 4th on a lower-your-shoulder drive on Beard. With DT out the Sparks are aggressively double-teaming Griner. Midway thru Q2 - Mercury are going to have a tough time in this game.
Yes, except not withstanding what the commentators said, it wasn't really a lower-your-shoulder drive to my eye. It was a standard drive, and Beard clearly was not set. Bad call.
 
Beard intentional trip of Taurasi only got called as a common foul. Diana already got her back with a DT-induced open-court foul on Beard, but I suspect the payback isn’t complete. Diana was in some pain, and VERY annoyed.

I wish she would try and square up against Beard.. :cool:
 
Yes, except not withstanding what the commentators said, it wasn't really a lower-your-shoulder drive to my eye. It was a standard drive, and Beard clearly was not set. Bad call.
It was a refs’ “We’re gonna get your *ss” call.
 
Yes, except not withstanding what the commentators said, it wasn't really a lower-your-shoulder drive to my eye. It was a standard drive, and Beard clearly was not set. Bad call.
It wasn't beard but Chelsea Gray who probably leads the league in drawing offensive fouls. And yes she was set and DT did lower her head.
 
It wasn't beard but Chelsea Gray who probably leads the league in drawing offensive fouls. And yes she was set and DT did lower her head.
It was Gray and she was still moving, although she did a very good job of squaring up her shoulders to the oncoming DT.

Lowering your head is a natural motion when driving to the hoop, and not in itself cause to call an offensive foul. DT did not lower her shoulder into the defender on that drive. It was a block, but difficult to tell in real time and certainly not an egregious error by the ref.
 
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Going down to the wire. Sims fouled Bonner shooting a 3 w/ about 12 seconds left and the Sparks up by 4. Bonner hit all 3 FTs. That would appear to be a boneheaded error. 76-75 LA.
 
5,000 career points for Parker.
20th place and moving up. She's 3,400 points behind the GOAT.

Active players with 5,000+:

Taurasi
Cappie
Sue
Candice
Seimone
Lindsay
Angel
Tina
Candace

Maya will get to 5,000 at the end of the season or early next season.
 
Well I'm glad it ended up being a close, entertaining game. And yes, the crowd was awesome. LA won tonight by taking and making a lot of good, precision mid-range jumpers.

Bonner should try stepping up to the three point line before letting her shot fly. Twice tonight she chose not to, heaving it up from five or so feet beyond the arc, including that air ball on the last play of the game.
 
Official attendance 19,076... awesome crowd and a 2018 league high for a single game.
Were people looking for air conditioning on a hot day in L.A.? ;)

That's a great crowd!
 
As I said earlier Gray probably leads the league in drawn charges. DT is not the only player she has drawn multiple charges against to foul them out this season.
 
Big win for LA. They look so much better with Nneka out there too to help space the court. Great showing by Gray tonight....she gives Toliver a run for her money as the most clutch player in the league. Parker was fantastic despite a poor shooting night--14 points, 14 boards, 8 assists and was very active defensively. Taurasi was a no show tonight, fouling out in the 4th and didn't get into rhythm besides a solid of nice plays in the 3rd. Griner was pretty unstoppable in stretches hitting fade aways and hooks that simply can't be defended, but LA's double team improved and Phoenix stopped going to her.

In the consistently inconsisent season the W has had so far, it now appears that Vegas, Dallas, Minnesota and Phoenix are in a race to the bottom to miss the playoffs. Dallas has thrown away several close games during their current 5 game losing streak, Vegas has lost their last 2 and possibly 3 if the Mystics game counts as a forfeit, Minnesota has lost 3 bad by double digits, and Phoenix is 2-8 over their last 10.

5-6 games left for most teams. The coveted #2 seed is still in attainable reach for Atlanta, LA, and Washington with Connecticut having an outside chance. LA @ Atlanta on the 9th will be a huge game. They've split the first two meetings, so the winner gets the tie break if they finish with the same record. LA is 1 game back, so if they can knock off the Dream they'll likely move into 2nd place and have games remaining against dreadful New York, Phoenix who they've consistently beat the last few years, Mystics and the Sun. Should be an exciting finish to the regular season.
 
LA nearly gave away that game; long stretches where they were not disciplined offensively
 
The better teams in the league always draw large crowds at Staples. LA loves the Sparks. :cool: Today's game is the kind of game they want to see. A game that comes down the last possession, the last shot, but the Sparks win. :D Great game today. If Taurasi doesn't get in early foul trouble, things may have turned out differently. :eek: Three teams that draw well are The Storm, The Lynx and the Mercury. These three teams are guaranteed to give the fans their money's worth every time time they come to town. The Sun, the Dream and the Wings do pretty good also.
 
Big win for LA. They look so much better with Nneka out there too to help space the court. Great showing by Gray tonight....she gives Toliver a run for her money as the most clutch player in the league. Parker was fantastic despite a poor shooting night--14 points, 14 boards, 8 assists and was very active defensively. Taurasi was a no show tonight, fouling out in the 4th and didn't get into rhythm besides a solid of nice plays in the 3rd. Griner was pretty unstoppable in stretches hitting fade aways and hooks that simply can't be defended, but LA's double team improved and Phoenix stopped going to her.

In the consistently inconsisent season the W has had so far, it now appears that Vegas, Dallas, Minnesota and Phoenix are in a race to the bottom to miss the playoffs. Dallas has thrown away several close games during their current 5 game losing streak, Vegas has lost their last 2 and possibly 3 if the Mystics game counts as a forfeit, Minnesota has lost 3 bad by double digits, and Phoenix is 2-8 over their last 10.

5-6 games left for most teams. The coveted #2 seed is still in attainable reach for Atlanta, LA, and Washington with Connecticut having an outside chance. LA @ Atlanta on the 9th will be a huge game. They've split the first two meetings, so the winner gets the tie break if they finish with the same record. LA is 1 game back, so if they can knock off the Dream they'll likely move into 2nd place and have games remaining against dreadful New York, Phoenix who they've consistently beat the last few years, Mystics and the Sun. Should be an exciting finish to the regular season.
I'd be very surprised if the current bottom four teams in the standings are not all still in the bottom four by the end of the season. It also looks increasingly like Phoenix and/or Minneapolis will play sudden death in the first round. I'm sure no team would want to face either one of them in a single win or go home game.
 
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